This picture shows the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico, in 2010. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

(Newser)
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Archaeologists have unearthed what they believe are the original offerings that Mexico's Pyramid of the Sun was built upon. The team from the nation's National Institute of Anthropology and history found the very center of the ancient Teotihuacan structure by digging extensions off an old tunnel dug by 1930s explorers, the AP reports. There they found 11 ceremonial clay pots dedicated to a rain god, a stone serpentine mask so ornate it may have been a portrait, and the bones of a variety of animals.

The bones were all arrayed on a rubble base that "was deposited as part of a consecration ritual for the construction of the Pyramid," one archaeologist said. Researchers also found the remains of three older structures buried in the base of the pyramid, and seven burials, some of them for infant remains. The find is important, as it may give a clearer picture of the religious practices of the still largely mysterious Teotihuacan culture.